Marla Estes, M.A., teacher, workshop facilitator and writer, is the founder of The School of the Examined Life.

My overarching mission is to help students allow the unconscious to become conscious. This includes working with the Shadow, “the long black bag we drag behind us,” those dark aspects of ourselves that we hide, repress or disown. Until we integrate all parts of ourselves we will never be authentically whole.

One of the things that makes my work unusual is my use of film as an avenue to understanding ourselves and others.

My classes take place primarily in small groups in an intimate setting, a safe place for inner exploration. Through film, inquiry exercises, relevant readings and group discussion, students begin the journey inward, inviting all parts of themselves to be seen and heard. Eventually the satisfaction of living more and more from one’s depths becomes its own reward. Students’ feelings about themselves tend to improve as well as their relationships with others. At The School of the Examined Life, this life changing passage is taken seriously, yet humor and laughter inevitably become a part of the process.

Although I am not a therapist and my classes aren't meant as group therapy, students often find the experience therapeutic.

I invite students to experience their own unfolding at their own pace. The close network of the group provides an additional web of support for this process. I provide a safe space for others to explore what is true for themselves and by modeling my own vulnerability, students have the freedom to truly become themselves.

I live in Ashland, Oregon and am available to come speak to your group on tailor-made topics, both locally and in other locations.